Introducing a new technology for electoral administration and voting operation purposes can increase or decrease costs. This will depend on the expenses needed to acquire and maintain the new technology compared to the expenses needed to maintain the old system.
However, there are other factors besides cost to consider. A new technology may bring benefits such as improvements in service delivery or transparency that are worth extra expenses. Ann assessment of the cost-effectiveness and potential benefits should be made before committing to a new technology.
Technology may appear to be expensive at the implementation stage, but may save money in the long-term, particularly where a low-cost technological solution can be found to replace a high-cost, low-tech application. Election management bodies (EMBs) need to weigh the costs and savings associated with introducing technology. These include the initial costs of purchasing hardware and software, the hiring of consultants to set up the new system and ongoing maintenance and management costs.
The expected life-span of the technology should be determined. A technology that can be re-used for more than one purpose or for more than one election will be more cost-effective than one that can only be used only once before it needs to be replaced.
Many technological solutions may cost significantly more than the equivalent manual processes that they replace. An EMB does not have to implement a high-cost, high-tech solution if a low-cost, low-tech alternative is acceptable.
Before purchasing a technology, an EMB needs to ensure that it has the funds to cover the initial implementation stage and the ongoing maintenance costs. This will generally involve obtaining commitments through the relevant government budgetary processes. A cost-benefit analysis will be required in most cases when seeking funds from the government.
A cost-benefit analysis of new technology could take the following form:
state the purpose of the technology acquisition
state why its acquisition is desirable
describe the process that the new technology would replace
state the possible problems or risks involved with continued use of the current process
describe how the new technology would work
state the benefits of the new technology
state the possible problems or risks involved in adopting the new technology
analyse whether the new technology will increase or decrease the transparency of the electoral process
estimate all of the costs involved in introducing the new technology—including the relevant hardware, software and infrastructure necessary for communications, transport, staff, external contractors, ongoing maintenance and future upgrades
estimate the costs that involved if the technology fails
explain the costs associated with the current processes
identify any costs that would be offset by adopting the new technology
detail a timeline for implementing the new technology
discuss the sustainability of the new technology, and indicate its expected life-span
identify any external events necessary for the project to proceed, such as approval by stakeholders or enactment of legislative change
